


Missing in Action

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Established Relationship, M/M, Not Really Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:44:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6463528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jeannie Miller opened her front door, it took her a moment to recognize the man on the other side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing in Action

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" Still in Love Challenge in 2012

When Jeannie Miller opened her front door, it took her a moment to recognize the man on the other side.

“John?” 

He was in his dress uniform, standing unusually stiff and looking more worn than she’d ever seen him, even in the middle of a crisis.

“Rodney,” he began, as though talking physically hurt. “Rodney is—”

“Dead?” Jeannie gasped.

“No! No, I wouldn’t— They’ve declared him MIA,” John continued, words tumbling over each other. “Missing in action. I looked for him, Jeannie, I swear! Every half-way friendly planet we’ve ever been, every ‘gate address Teyla and Ronon could remember. But he isn’t— there isn’t even a _trace_ of him, and the IOA won’t let us— won’t authorize any more resources to…”

Without thinking, Jeannie reached out toward him. She remembered at the last moment how John didn’t like to be touched and started to pull back, but he just seemed to _crumple_ into her arms, burying his face in the shoulder of her cardigan.

The rational part of Jeannie knew that, in all likelihood, her brother _was_ dead. Stargate Command had an unwritten rule of never leaving anyone behind, none more so than the Atlantis Expedition. If they couldn’t find Rodney— if _John_ couldn’t find him— then the chances for his survival were slim.

John made a snuffling noise— he wasn’t crying, but his breathing was irregular— and Jeannie realized she’d been rubbing his back, like she did when Madison was upset. John seemed to realize it at the same time, and straightened suddenly.

“I— I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I just didn’t want you to hear it from someone else.”

“Thank you, John,” said Jeannie. “Come on in, I’ll make you some coffee.”

“Oh,” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I was just going to—”

“Don’t you even think it, John Sheppard!” she snapped. “You are going to stay here for as long as you’ve got leave, and if they want you back sooner, that General O’Neill is going to have to call me himself.”

John’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but it was a start. “Yes, ma’am.”

Jeannie sent him upstairs to change, and when he came back downstairs, wearing jeans and a t-shirt he knew that she knew was Rodney’s, she had a cup of coffee waiting. “It’s not your fault, John,” she said, then held up a hand when he tried to talk. “I don’t need to know what happened to know that you did everything you could, and a few things you shouldn’t have.”

John took a sip of his coffee, because that was exactly what had happened. Their last three searches through the ‘gate had been completely unauthorized, and Woolsey had been more than willing to approve John’s leave back to Earth.

Suddenly, the front door opened and there were small footsteps across the living room floor.

“I should—” John began, half-rising, but Jeannie glared at him.

“You stay right there,” she said, and he plopped back down again.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Madison, her hair in pigtails and carrying an orange-and-purple backpack covered in stars, throw her arms around Jeannie’s waist. Jeannie took her daughter’s hands, speaking too soft for John to hear. But he knew she was explaining about Rodney, how her Uncle Mer was probably never coming back and— he saw Madison’s eyes widen, then she raced across the kitchen to pull him into a surprisingly gentle hug.

“It’ll be okay, Uncle John,” she said, making him wonder exactly what Jeannie had told her. “Uncle Mer’s a genius, remember?”

That was almost exactly what Rodney had said before he went through the ‘gate with the science team. It was the last thing Rodney had said to him.

“Uncle John?” asked Madison.

He closed his eyes and hugged her back.

After that, Madison Miller was the only thing keeping John from having some sort of mental breakdown.

If he’d had to stay on Atlantis without Rodney, without being able to look for Rodney, he would have gone crazy. But in Jeannie’s wonderfully lived-in house, he managed to hang on to his sanity. Every day, Madison came home from school full of stories about what she was learning, a miniature and slightly higher-pitched version of her uncle when he was explaining something, and every day, John met her at the bus stop, letting the chatter wash over him.

Jeannie didn’t say anything when he started doing laundry while Madison was at school, fixed everything in the house that creaked, dripped or didn’t shut right, or went running at completely random hours, but she drew the line when he started trying to make dinner. Probably because he wasn’t very good at it.

“We appreciate it, John, really,” she said. “Why don’t you take Maddie to the park?”

So, he took Madison to the park. It was hard to dwell on things while surrounded by happy kids, especially with a gleeful six-year-old calling, “Higher, Uncle John!” as he pushed her on the swings.

Trips to the park became a regular thing, if the weather was even half-way decent. John would help Madison with her homework— well, on the rare occasions she actually needed help— then they’d grab their shoes and head for the park.

“I think you’ll need a sweater today,” said John one afternoon, and Madison raced up the stairs to find one.

Just as John had found his own jacket in the closet, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!” he called to Jeannie, who was somewhere in the house.

He pulled open the door and froze.

“Sheppard, what the hell?” demanded Rodney, standing on the front step in what looked like his mission gear minus the tac vest. 

Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “I was examining that Ancient research facility with the science team, and when I came back outside, everyone was gone! I dialed Atlantis, and when they _finally_ let me through, Teyla said I’d vanished six weeks ago. Everyone looked like they’d seen a ghost, Ronon _hugged_ me, Keller ran more medical tests than I knew existed, then before I could do much more than figure out that I must have been stuck in some sort of reverse time-dilation field— because, really, that’s the only explanation, since I thought I was only gone a couple of hours— Woolsey opened a wormhole to Earth and Ronon pushed me through. Then, Sam met me at the SGC, and without so much as a ‘nice to see you, Rodney’, she had the _Apollo_ beam me up and back down here.”

He took a breath, still scowling. “So I repeat: Sheppard, what the hell?”

John blinked, sure he’d finally lost his mind. Without knowing he was going to do it, he reached out to pull Rodney into a hug.

He was _real_ , solid in his arms, warm and breathing and alive. “Rodney,” he breathed. “God, I thought you were _dead_.”

Arms slid around John’s waist, tentative at first, then more firm. “Hey,” said Rodney. “I’m here. I’m okay. I was only gone four hours.”

“It was six weeks, Rodney,” said John, holding on tighter. “ _Six weeks_ and I—”

“Mom!” yelled Madison’s voice. “Mom, it’s Uncle Mer!”

“John,” said Rodney softly, and John closed his eyes briefly before reluctantly letting him go.

Jeannie hurried in from the kitchen, then clapped a hand over her mouth. “Mer! It’s you, it’s really you!” She hugged him, too, and pulled him into the living room. “How…?”

“Time dilation field,” Rodney told her, looking confusedly between his sister and John. “Four hours for me equals six weeks for everyone else, apparently.”

“Ah,” said Jeannie, and hugged him again.

“I told you everything would be okay, Uncle John!” said Madison.

“Come on, Maddie,” said Jeannie. “Let’s get Uncle Mer a snack, huh?”

Madison hugged him again, too, then followed her mother into the kitchen. Rodney watched them go, and only then seemed to realize where he was. “Sheppard?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”

“I…” John began. “It was six weeks, Rodney. The IOA made us call off the search for you after four, and Jeannie deserved to hear that from me.”

“Did they blame you for my going missing?” Rodney asked. “Is that why they sent you back? Oh, my god, you’re not being _court martialed_ , are you?”

“What? No, I’m not being court martialed,” said John. “I’m on leave.”

“Oh,” said Rodney. “But what are you doing _here_.”

“Oh,” John repeated. “I just… couldn’t go back. Atlantis wasn’t the same without… and I couldn’t… and Madison, she…”

“She likes you better, doesn’t she?” asked Rodney. “Jeannie probably does, too. That explains why you stayed.”

“No, _Rodney_ ,” John snapped, before he could stop himself. “I stayed because they were the last bit I had of _you_.”

“I— Really?”

His voice hitched on the last syllable, and that sound was what made John cross the space between them with one long stride and pull Rodney into a fierce kiss. Rodney froze for a fraction of a second before that genius brain kicked in and he kissed back just as fiercely, fingers twisting into John’s t-shirt.

“Mer! John! I love you both, but I did _not_ need to see that!”

They broke apart, reluctantly. “Sorry, Jeannie,” said John, not sounding the least bit sorry at all.

She shook her head. “I’m glad you’re not dead, Mer,” she said. “But how could you not tell me about this?”

“Because I didn’t know there was a ‘this’,” Rodney protested, before turning back to John. “There _is_ a ‘this’, right?”

John grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

Jeannie shook her head again, then grabbed her coat. “Maddie and I are going to the park. There’s snacks in the kitchen. I do _not_ want to know what happens after we leave.”

“Jeannie!” said Rodney, but John grinned again.

“Thanks,” he said. 

She kissed his cheek on her way past, then called back, “You’ve got three hours, boys!”

When the door closed behind her, Rodney asked, “We’re not going to have to talk about this, are we?”

“God, no,” said John. “Snacks, then bed?”

“A man after my own heart.”

John leaned in for another kiss. “I certainly hope so.”

THE END


End file.
